Girls Prep Wrestling: Kelso hosts, wins Braided 64

Roses In Their Hair — Lassies win team title; Gaerlan, Engel grab gold at nation's largest girls-only tournament

With determination in her eyes, Olivia Engel of Kelso (left) uses her legs to swing Lexi Gideon of Southridge (right) into a pinning position during their heated championship match at the Braided 64 tournament on Saturday, Jan. 11, at Kelso High School. Engel, who began the tournament ranked No.12, triumphed by fall late in the second round. — Skyler Smith for Blast Zone Media

Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com

Kamiah Gaerlan of Kelso (left) and Bailee Wagner of Sumner (right) lock eyes before their intense first place match at the Braided 64 tournament, Saturday, Jan. 11, at Kelso High School. Gaerlan won by fall 1:47 into the first round. — Skyler Smith for Blast Zone Media

There’s a saying in Kelso that goes something like this; If you’re going to put in the effort to host the nation’s largest girls-only high school wrestling tournament, then you might as well win a few titles along the way.

And that’s precisely what the Hilanders did last weekend when they won the team championship at their own Braided 64 Invitational at Kelso High School. The hosts also saw three of their own reach the championship match of their respective brackets, with Kamiah Gaerlan and Olivia Engel each claiming individual titles on their home mat.

“We had three girls who made it to the finals and all of them wrestled well,” Kelso coach Bob Freund said. “All of our girls wrestled well this weekend.”

The 19th annual Braided 64 (the name was officially changed a half decade ago) saw nearly 1,000 wrestlers from 103 different teams take over every nook and cranny of campus over the course of Friday and Saturday.

This year Kelso laid out 14 mats from the main gymnasium atop K-Court, to the auxiliary gym, to the commons area and even the cafeteria. That’s an increase of two mats over last year, and it covers just about every square inch of available space on campus.

“That maxes us out, we don’t really have any more room,” Freund said. “Our participation was up by more than 100 girls.”

The tournament is attended by nearly every high school in Washington, and several from outside the evergreen state. And even with that crowded and talented field of competition, the Lassies of Kelso wound up on top of the heap.

Kelso won the team title with 229 points. Peninsula wound up in second place with 190 points, while Richland finished third with 170 points. Toppenish and Hermiston rounded out the top-5 finishes.

“The tournament was a pretty good testament of our strength as a team,” Freund said. “In order to win this thing you’ve really got to have a lot of girls wrestling well. This was the most intense that our team has wrestled all season.”

And that’s saying something, to be sure. Kelso has wrestled in five tournaments already this season and won four of them. The Lassies placed third at the other in Reno.

The story of the weekend was Olivia Engel who entered the tournament ranked No. 12 before battling her way to the 120-pound championship. She defeated Lexi Gideon of Southridge in the title bout, notching a pin just before the end of the second round.

—Olivia Engel of Kelso (blue) showcased her wrestling prowess by pinning Lexi Gideon of Southridge (silver) in 3:56 to win the 120-pound title at the Braided 64 tournament on Saturday, Jan. 11, at Kelso High School. / Skyler Smith for Blast Zone Media –